My cousin died in August of last year. She and I have been doing genealogy on several branches of our tress that are common. However she was stumped on her great grandfather's history. He was born Feb 2, 1859 in Palermo, Providence of Sicily, Italy. He married Alida Blanchard however her first name is spelled three different ways. According to his nationalization papers they came from Italy in 1881 at age 22. However, his wife's papers are dated about 18 years earlier. I don't have that record myself but it is in her family tree.Her family states that they went to France and crossed over to Canada. They purchased a houseboat and went along the east coast to Louisiana and on to Port Arthur, Texas where they lived on the houseboat on the Inter-coastal Waterway. I've a picture dated 1923-1924. He and Alida are in it with a son a grandson and two great grandchildren. The primary issue is not only the date of naturalization and when they came to the US but the surname. He changed it for some reason to Cropper. His family owned a winery in Sicily. The theories are he was dodging the draft which would have been the Franco-Prussian War but Italy was not involved in that. The other theory is he was dodging the Mafia.DNA testing has been done however autosomal testing was not done. My cousin Wilie ( my cousin's brother) is still alive. He did DNA but the wrong test was done. His DNA is still on file. I am wondering what kind of success can be found doing an autosomal test. That cannot reveal the surname but can narrow down the region(s) the ancestors came from hopefully on the "Cropper" side. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We are truly stumped. I have taken over where Violet left off.

Wife, Allida, and all the children list their place of birth as Louisiana.According to the census, Seymore and Allida have been married for 14 years. That would make the eldest son, Saul, a child from a previous marriage - ???EDIT: According to the 1910 Census, it is Allida who was married before

Thanks to Ada's suggestion, I thought...how about "CRIPPA"... found in Palermo, as well

This may be a POSSIBILITY...Found this New Orleans arrival for Giuseppe CRIPPA, age 23, in 1881Leaving Bremen, GermanyGiuseppe lists his country as Italy, his destination is Galveston.Of course these early manifests don't provide much information

I found a death certificate for Simon Cropper in Texas listing his birthdate as February 2, 1858. That would make the age above correct. Year of arrival agrees with your family history.

BTW - if you don't have a copy of the death record... I can post it for you.

Here is the ship manifest for the SS Koln, arriving New Orleans, November 1881.

I know by Simon Cropper declaration of intent that he arrived in New York on nov 1881.. no ship's name.. but it is hard to think the original surname spelling... in the above immigration record, this Simone, the surname is spelled Cobra.. but I believe mispelled... your suggestions? suanj

What do you mean it's "in her tree?" If you are talking about an Ancestry account, then it could certainly be called into question.

Since you already have her GGF's DOB, it may be easier than you think. My experience is that many places kept large docket books to record births, and these were filled in as the births occured. So if you can view the books from his province (Ancestry does have some Italian dockets avail online), and they followed this procedure, simply look to the early part of Feb 1859. Even in areas with many similar first and last names, I think you might have luck seeing as you have the date.

All I have about his naturalization is the word from family members. So far I have not found it. This is from the 1910 census in ancestry.com's website:1910 United States Federal Census about Siman Cropper Name: Siman Cropper[Simon Cropper] Age in 1910: 52Birth Year: 1858Birthplace: ItalyHome in 1910: Police Jury Ward 2, Saint Mary, LouisianaRace: Mulatto[White] Gender: MaleImmigration Year: 1880Relation to Head of House: Head[Self (Head)] Marital Status: MarriedSpouse's Name: Aledia CropperFather's Birthplace: ItalyMother's Birthplace: ItalyNeighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name AgeSiman Cropper 52Aledia Cropper 55Willie Cropper 17Mary Cropper 11

It appears there has been some research that I have not been aware of. There have not been any notices until today. I am so very grateful. My cousins will most definitely appreciate what has been found so far. Thank you so much.

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montclaire wrote:What do you mean it's "in her tree?" If you are talking about an Ancestry account, then it could certainly be called into question.

Since you already have her GGF's DOB, it may be easier than you think. My experience is that many places kept large docket books to record births, and these were filled in as the births occured. So if you can view the books from his province (Ancestry does have some Italian dockets avail online), and they followed this procedure, simply look to the early part of Feb 1859. Even in areas with many similar first and last names, I think you might have luck seeing as you have the date.

Yes the information I have comes from her family tree on ancestry's website and what she obtained from his wife's family. Thank you very much.

I know by Simon Cropper declaration of intent that he arrived in New York on nov 1881.. no ship's name.. but it is hard to think the original surname spelling... in the above immigration record, this Simone, the surname is spelled Cobra.. but I believe mispelled... your suggestions? suanj

It has been a long time since I have been here but much has been going on in my life. This is the information I am going to go with. Somebody at the local LDS Family History Center told me to try to get his actual naturalization papers. What I found was his intent. There is conflicting information on it. I might try to get one of his descendants to do that search since I am not descended from him. He was my cousin's grandfather...great or great great.

Thank you so very much for your help. Violet and I believed he changed his name or the spelling of it. This makes sense to me. Much of it fits his profile.